Reaumur Coleman Stearnes (1866-1945)

From the Virginia Times Dispatch, April 17, 1907.

    A distinguished figure in the annals of Virginia state government, Reaumur Coleman Stearnes was for many years at the forefront of educational matters in the "Old Dominion" State, holding a seat on the state Board of Education and later served a five-year term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. I first discovered this interestingly named man several years ago, courtesy of the Who Was Who In America 1943-1950 edition. Listed under his full name, Mr. Stearnes received a substantial write-up in Who Was Who, a lasting testament to his lengthy role in the Virginia educational system.

   Born in Dublin, Virginia on April 8, 1866, Reaumur C. Stearns was the son of Dr. John Lewis and Phoebe Ann McDermed Stearnes, both residents of Pulaski County. His unusual first name is noted as being pronounced "roamer", and the December 12, 1940 edition of the Hempstead, New York Sentinel notes that Stearnes received his odd name in honor of "the French scientist Reaumur, who produced the heat measuring scale bearing his name." 

  Stearnes attended schools in his native town of Dublin and later graduated from Richmond College in 1887, the valedictorian of his class. He embarked upon a teaching career while still studying at college, and continued in this profession after graduating, teaching at the Allegheny Institute in Roanoke, Virginia for a time. Stearnes married on December 27, 1888, to Mary Elizabeth Arnold (1865-1960) and later had three children, Bessie (1890-1982), John Lewis (died in infancy in 1893), and Reaumur Jr. (born 1901).

   The early 1890s saw Stearnes continuing to teach as well as practicing law in Salem, Virginia. In 1892 he was elected as Superintendent of Roanoke County Schools. His fourteen-year tenure in this post was remarked by the January 1913 edition of the Journal of Education, New England and National  as "having made a national reputation, the first made by a county superintendent in West Virginia, if not the first in the South."  During his time as Roanoke superintendent Stearnes was also a leading light in the establishment of the Cooperative Educational Association of Virginia, and from 1901-1906 served as the President of the Virginia State Teacher's Association.

   Stearnes served as the head of the Roanoke school system until 1906, and in that year was appointed as secretary of the State Board of Education. His term lasted six years and in December of 1912, his public profile received a significant boost when he was "by unanimous vote" elected by the state board of Education as Virginia's State Superintendent of Public Instruction, succeeding outgoing superintendent Joseph Eggleston, who had resigned a few days previously. A write-up on Stearnes' succession to the office appeared in the Virginia Dispatch in December 1912 and is shown below.

From the Virginia Times Dispatch, December 24, 1912.

   Stearnes' ascension as Virginia's top-ranking educational figure was viewed by many sources of the time as an outstanding choice, certainly because Stearnes' had been intricately involved in the educational affairs of the state for over two decades. In 1914 he was elected to a term of his own as Superintendent and served until 1918 when he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. Following his defeat, Stearnes joined in the ongoing war effort and took on a position as a community organizer for the War Camp Community Service in Atlanta and remained with this organization until 1922, when he became a student at Columbia University in New York, where he also lectured.

   In 1925 Stearnes relocated to Stony Brook University where he taught mathematics until 1929. He later took on a similar teaching position at both the New York and Hofstra Universities, remaining at the latter school until 1939. In addition to these posts, Stearnes was also a lecturer on "business administration and secretarial studies" at the Merchant and Banker's Business and Secretarial School, also located in New York. Stearnes resided in Hempstead, New York during his twilight years and died at his home there on May 27, 1945, at age 79. He was survived by his wife Mary Elizabeth and two children and was later returned to Dublin, Virginia for burial at the New Dublin Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

Reaumur C. Stearnes in his later years, from the Jan. 21, 1943 edition of the Hempstead Sentinel.

From the May 29, 1945 edition of the Brooklyn Eagle.

Pomp Fowler Brinkley (1869-1941)

From "Historic Smyrna: An Illustrated History" published in 2010.

  An oddly named Mayor of the city of Smyrna, Georgia, Pomp Fowler Brinkley is one of the most obscure figures I've stumbled across in quite some time, and when it came time to compile a small article on the life and accomplishments of this oddly named Georgian obscurity once again prevailed! Virtually nothing could be found on the life of Mr. Brinkley, except an all too short write-up in William P. Marchione's Brief History of Smyrna, Georgia, which was published earlier this year. 

  From the scant amount of information available detailing his life, Pomp F. Brinkley was a resident of the Peach State for a good majority of his life, being born on November 23, 1869. He married in Cobb County on December 20, 1894, to Ms. Georgia Rilla Stanley (1876-1972) to whom he was married for over forty years. The couple were also the parents of three children, Pauline (1898-1975), Jessie Lee (birthdate unknown), and Julius Eugene (1911-1955). 

  Although few sources mention him at any great length, it is known that Brinkley was employed as a railroad conductor for many years and in 1899 was elected as the vice president of Georgia's Brotherhood of American Trainmen. Attentive to political affairs in Smyrna, Brinkley won election to the city council in 1926 and served here until 1930. In the following year, he took office as Mayor of Smyrna, holding this post for one term (1931-1933).

  Following his term as mayor, Brinkley is recorded as donating a portion of land to the city that was eventually named "Brinkley Park" in his honor. In addition to this, Brinkley had previously served as a past master of the Nelms Lodge No. 323 of Free and Accepted Masons in Smyrna. He died on March 3, 1941, at age 71 and was laid to rest at the Mountain View Park Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia. Brinkley's wife Georgia survived him by over thirty years, dying in February 1972 at age 95, and was interred at the same cemetery as her husband.

Minetree Folkes Jr. (1908-1959)

From a 1938 composite photograph of the Virginia State House of Delegates.

   Following on the heels of the October 2nd write-up on Virginia state representative Cralle Fauntleroy Blackwell, we continue our stay in the "Old Dominion" state to highlight the life of Mr. Minetree Folkes Jr., a distinguished veteran of WWII who also served multiple terms in the Virginia House of Delegates. While his first name bears a similarity to "mini-tree", Folkes was not named after a very small tree but inherited his first name from his father, a prominent local lawyer named Minetree Folkes (1870-1915) who had served as Commonwealth Attorney for Richmond from 1906-1915, dying in office in the last-named year.

  Born in Richmond, Virginia on November 10, 1908, Minetree "Minnie" Folkes Jr. was the son of  Minetree Sr. and Mamie Wily Folkes. He received his primary education in the schools of Richmond and later graduated from the John Marshall High School in that city. Folkes was later enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute, where he was a standout cadet. A graduate of the class of 1929, Folkes had been a player on the institute's basketball, football, and baseball teams, and earned his degree in Civil Engineering from this school. He would also go on to earn a law degree from the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond. Following his graduation, he opened a law practice in Richmond and operated here for a number of years. 

  

                               From the 1929 edition of the Virginia Military Institute's Yearbook "The Bomb".

   Through his Richmond law practice, Folkes became active in Democratic party circles in Virginia's capital city, and in November 1937 was elected to represent Richmond in the State House of Delegates. Taking his seat in 1938, he sat on the house committees on Counties, Cities and Towns, General Laws, Immigration and Retrenchment, and Economy. Folkes was reelected by his constituency in 1940 and 1942 and in the latter year resigned to take part in the ongoing war effort overseas.

   Minetree Folkes Jr. signed on for military service and in 1942 became a Major in the United States Marine Corps. He later gained distinction for leading the 3rd Battalion of the 21st Marines at the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, and on March 1 of that year suffered a critical war injury and lost his right leg, necessitating his evacuation to a military hospital in Guam. After recuperating, Folkes returned to the United States and was later fitted with a prosthetic limb. Despite his grievous injury, Folkes lost no interest in being a public servant, and a year after losing his leg became a candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia. Running in that year's primary for Virginia's 3rd district, Folkes faced off against incumbent Congressman Julian Vaughan Gary but was defeated at the polls. In August 1950 Folkes was again a candidate in the Democratic primary against Gary but was defeated for the second time, 12,504 votes to 8,573.
   Although he may have been defeated in both of the aforementioned primaries, Minetree Folkes returned to active political life in November 1952, when he won another term in the Virginia State House of Delegates. Taking his seat in January 1953, Folkes represented the counties of Henrico and Chesterfield for the next three terms and during the 1958 legislative session served on the committees on Currency and Commerce, Privileges and Elections, Roads and Internal Navigation. Aside from his service in the legislature, Folkes was active in a number of other non-political areas in Virginia, holding a seat on the board of the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind as well as the Henrico County Chapter of the American Red Cross. 
   While still an incumbent representative Folkes was struck down by illness and died at age 51 on December 22, 1959, at a hospital in Richmond. His untimely death was mentioned by then Virginia Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. as a great loss for the state, noting that Folkes "demonstrated his capacity as one of the outstanding members of the General Assembly of Virginia. He was a great soldier for his country in her hour of distress and a great representative of his constituency." Following his death Minetree Folkes Jr. was interred at the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, and was survived by his wife Frances Thornton Folkes (1909-2007), and a step-daughter, Elizabeth Gordon Milton.

Minetree Folkes Jr, from the 1954 composite portrait of the Virginia House of Delegates.

From the December 23, 1959 edition of the Kingston News.

Cralle Fauntleroy Blackwell (1897-1976)

From a 1940 composite photograph of the Virginia House of Delegates.

    A native son of Lunenburg County, Virginia, Cralle Fauntleroy Blackwell rose to become one of the aforementioned county's prominent public figures, serving at various times as an attorney, mayor, judge, and five-term member of the State House of Delegates. Born on August 26, 1897, in Lunenburg, Cralle F. Blackwell was the son of John Garland and Marion Truly Hatchett Blackwell. He attended the public schools of Lunenburg and went on to study at Washington and Lee University, graduating in the class of 1918 with his Bachelor of laws degree.

   Following his graduation, Blackwell joined in the ongoing war effort, and during the First World War was engaged with the U.S. Army Coastal Artillery. After his military service, he returned to Virginia married Anne Clifford Hutcheson, and later established a law practice in the town of Kenbridge. He maintained a practice here for several years and in 1924 was elected as Kenbridge's mayor, serving a total of fourteen years in office. He had earlier served as town treasurer, and in 1926 took on the position of judge of the town juvenile domestic and relations court.

  Blackwell continued to serve Kenbridge as mayor throughout the 1930s and in 1938 won election to the Virginia House of Delegates in a special election to fill the seat of Lunenburg Representative Isham Wilkinson, who had resigned out of health concerns. After taking his seat, Blackwell was named to the committees on General Laws, Printing, Privileges and Elections, and chaired the committee on Special, Private, and Local Legislation.

  Cralle F. Blackwell served in the House of Delegates until 1949 and after leaving office continued with his law practice in Kenbridge. A member of the local Methodist Church before and after his legislative service, Blackwell was also a longstanding member of the American Legion as well as the Masons. He died on January 14, 1976, at age 78 and was later interred at the Kenbridge Heights Cemetery in Kenbridge, Virginia.

From a 1944 composite photo of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Vernettie Oscar Ivy (1876-1967)

   Joining New Hampshire's Zatae Longsdorff Straw and Utah's Sunday Cardall Anderson, multi-term Arizona state representative Vernettie Oscar Ivy becomes the third oddly named female political figure to receive a biography here on the site. Due to the distinct lack of interestingly named women who made a career in politics, only the aforementioned trio have had online profiles posted detailing their respective careers. 
  Vernettie O. Ivy was born Vernettie Oscar Greene in Blackburn, Saline County, Missouri on January 1, 1876. She removed to Arizona in 1895 when she was nineteen and later attended the Tempe Normal School. She married on August 4, 1897, to James Pleasant Ivy (1864-1939, an Arizona territorial representative) and later had one daughter, Elizabeth Ivy McCreight (born June 1901). 
  Prominent in many Arizona women's clubs, Vernettie Ivy became president of the Rebekah Assembly of Arizona in the late 1900s and later served as President of the Central Arizona District Federation of Women's Clubs and chairwoman of the State Child Welfare Board. In November 1922 Ivy was elected as one of Maricopa County's representatives in the Arizona General Assembly, taking her seat in 1923. During her time in the legislature, Ivy took great strides to help usher through legislation that would be beneficial to both women and children. She and fellow Arizona representative Louise Boehlinger co-sponsored a bill aimed at developing a child state welfare law, and their legislation eventually passed and "mandated state money" to be used for county welfare boards that had been developed to aid widowed women with young children. 
  Her six years in state government saw Ivy serve as chairwoman of the Public Welfare and Public Health and Statistics committee and in 1924 served as part of the Arizona delegation to the Democratic National Convention in New York City. After leaving the legislature in 1929 Ivy continued to be active in many women's organizations for the remainder of her life, holding memberships in the Phoenix Women's Club, the Fowler Women's Club, and was a past matron of the Order of the Eastern Star Lodge. She died at age 91 on July 15, 1967, in Phoenix and was later interred alongside her husband James at the Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery in Phoenix.

From the Arizona Republic, July 16, 1967.

Fairfax Stuart Landstreet (1861-1931)

From the Redemption of New York, published 1902.

   A native son of Virginia who made his political and business fortunes in both West Virginia and New York state, Fairfax Stuart Landstreet accumulated a fortune through his being a past director and General Manager of the Davis Coal and Coke Company. While well-known in business circles during the early part of the 20th century, Landstreet also had minor involvement in political affairs of the time, being a delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention of 1904 from West Virginia.

  Fairfax S. Landstreet was born in Fauquier County Virginia on June 17, 1861, a son of the Rev. John Landstreet, a former Confederate Army chaplain who had been in the service of Gen. Jacob Ewell Brown Stuart. Fairfax attended schools local to his place of birth and as an adolescent was sent by his parents to finish school in Baltimore, Maryland. After the completion of his schooling, Landstreet took on a position as clerk with the Davis Coal and Coke Company of West Virginia, owned by former U.S. Senator and 1904 Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916). Landstreet married in December 1886 in Piedmont, West Virginia to Mary Davis (Senator Davis's niece), and the couple later had two children, Fairfax Stuart Jr. (1895-1929) and Mary Davis (birthdate unknown).

   Throughout the 1880s and early 1890s, Landstreet climbed the ranks of the Davis Coal and Coke Co., and in 1893 assumed the position of General Manager, with the company headquarters being located on Broadway in New York City. In addition to that post, Landstreet served as General Manager of the West Virginia, Chesapeake, and Potomac Railway's Company coal department. Prominent in banking in addition to his railroad and coal interests, Landstreet held the presidencies of the National Bank of Davis, West Virginia, and the Tucker County Bank.

  Landstreet's long-term connection with the Davis Coal and Coke Co. (amongst other endeavors) gained him a wide circle of acquaintances in both West Virginia and New York, and the 1904 Redemption of New York notes that his "eminently successful management of this, as well as other properties, has served to bring him into prominence, and to achieve for him a place in the foremost rank of New York's business men."

                                The 1904 West Virginia delegation to the Republican National Convention.

  In June 1904 Landstreet served as part of the West Virginia delegation to the Republican National Convention in Chicago that nominated Theodore Roosevelt for the Presidency. Following his service as an RNC delegate, Landstreet continued his successful career in business, becoming chairman of the board of the New York Dock Company, as well as the Pennsylvania Coal and Coke Company. He held both of these positions until his death on February 5, 1931, at the Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. He was 69 years of age and his cause of death was due to heart disease, as per the 1931 edition of the Mining Congress Journal. He was later entombed at the Landstreet family mausoleum at the Southampton Cemetery in Southampton, Long Island.

From the New York Sun, February 6, 1931.

Amatus Robbins Bigelow (1853-1906)

From Taylor's Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut, 1903.

   A distinguished son of New London County, Connecticut, Amatus Robbins Bigelow was a resident of the town of Colchester, and during his short life of 52 years was one of that town's prominent public men, being elected to numerous local offices and later represented his town in the Connecticut State House of Representatives.

  Born on September 18, 1853, Amatus R. Bigelow was the son of David Skinner (1829-1905) and Abby Mandana Usher Bigelow (1833-1913). Amatus is believed to have been bestowed his unusual first name in honor of Dr. Amatus Robbins (1789-1854), a native son of Colchester who later became a physician of note in Troy, New York, practicing medicine here for over forty years. Amatus Bigelow's education commenced in schools local to Colchester and he later went on to attend the Glastonbury Academy. He married in June 1877 to Ms. Lina Cone Brown (1857-1924) and later had three children, Abby Elizabeth (1879-1941), Leon Ray (died in infancy in 1888), and Ruth Lina (1891-1944).

   Bigelow's life before service in the Connecticut legislature was centered mainly in the private sector, and Taylor's 1903 Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut notes that he "cultivated a small farm, and is engaged in mechanical pursuits" in addition to holding several town offices in Colchester, including being town assessor, constable, grand juror and was a notary public for over a decade. In November 1902 he was elected by the citizens of Colchester to be their representative in the Connecticut General Assembly and took his seat in January of the new year. During his one term in the legislature, Bigelow held a seat on the committee on Insurance, and his service was later remarked by Taylor's Legislative Souvenir as one that was "very satisfactory to his constituents."

The Connecticut House Insurance Committee of 1903, Amatus Bigelow pictured on the extreme left.

 Bigelow's term in the legislature concluded in January 1905 and he died a little over a year later at age 52 on April 1, 1906, in Colchester. He was survived by his mother, wife, and two daughters and was interred at the Westchester Cemetery in Colchester. 

Whitehead Kluttz (1881-1960), Whitehead Hicks (1728-1780)

From the Kansas Liberal Democrat, July 21, 1916.

   The name would be Whitehead Kluttz. What's that you say? That sounds like a made-up name? Not so!! While you probably wouldn't guess that a man with a name like "Whitehead Kluttz" would go on to a stellar career in public service, that is exactly what he did. While his funny name may give people a case of the giggles here in 2013, Mr. Kluttz was a prominent figure in Tar Heel State politics during the early 20th century, and by the time he turned 25 years old had won a term in the North Carolina State Senate. Despite gaining prominence in both politics and in other walks of life, Kluttz's name is all but forgotten today, and the following biography will try and shed light on the life of this obscure public official.

   Kluttz's story begins with his birth in Salisbury North Carolina on September 27, 1881, a son of Theodore Franklin Kluttz (1848-1918) and the former Sallie Caldwell. A three-term U.S. Representative from North Carolina from 1899-1905, Theodore Kluttz was also a distinguished civic leader and lawyer who practiced in Rowan County for over three decades. The fourth born son in a family of five children, Whitehead Kluttz attended the Presbyterian High School in Salisbury and graduated from the Church High School in 1898. He continued his schooling at the University of North Carolina, and during his four years at this school gained a reputation as one of its brightest pupils. 

   An exemplary debater and student, Kluttz is remarked by the Kansas Liberal Democrat newspaper as garnering statewide notoriety during his time at the University of North Carolina for "his remarkable talents as an orator, debater, and journalist." This same paper further tells of Kluttz's "classic eulogy at the William McKinley Memorial Service, his successful debate against Vanderbilt University, his Washington's Birthday oration, and his leaders when editor in chief of the Tar Heel are all vital and stimulating memories in the minds of his classmates."

Portrait from the Delta of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Vol. 18, August 1900.

   Kluttz completed his schooling at UNC in 1902 and graduated with his bachelor of laws degree in that year. Following his graduation, Kluttz was employed as a U.S. Senate correspondent for a New York-based newspaper, The Americana, and in 1904 formed a law partnership with another lawyer, T.F. Hudson, in his native city of Salisbury. His law practice here extended until 1906, and in that year was nominated for a seat in the North Carolina Senate. He won the election in November of that year and took his seat in January 1907 at age 25, one of the youngest men ever to be elected to that body. He represented the 26th senate district of Rowan County and was reelected to the senate in 1908. During his second term Kluttz became senate president pro tem, and with this honor enjoyed "the enviable distinction of being the youngest man who ever filled this position in any state."

   Kluttz's two terms in the state senate saw him chair the committee on Counties, Cities, and Towns, and he also held a seat on the committees on Congressional Apportionment, Education, Judiciary, Mines and Mining, and Trustees of the State University. The 1909 Pocket Manuel of North Carolina gives note that Whitehead Kluttz was "especially interested in legislation affecting good roads, guaranty of bank deposits, fire protection in public buildings, pensions for Confederate soldiers and public high schools." 

   Whitehead Kluttz refused to be a candidate for another term in the senate in 1910 and in the final year of his term married on April 22, 1911, to Margaret A. Linn (1884-1914). Their marriage proved to be short-lived, as Margaret died of an undisclosed cause at age 29 on February 4, 1914. Both before and after his senate service Kluttz gained a reputation as an orator of national repute, and is remarked by the 1916 edition of the Lyceum Magazine as giving a "Fourth of July address to 10,000 people in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, when he was said to have received the greatest ovation ever tendered a Southern speaker in the North" , this occurring in 1912.

   Kluttz's impressive resume as a lawyer, state senator, and orator eventually caught the eye of President Woodrow Wilson, who appointed the then 32-year-old North Carolinian to the post of Secretary of the International Joint Boundary Commission between the United States and Canada. A prominent booster for Wilson's campaign for the presidency in 1913, Kluttz's position on the commission was as secretary to the commission which had "exclusive jurisdiction over all controversies between the United States and Canada along the great waterways which form much of the boundary." Following his service on this commission, Kluttz was appointed by Wilson as Assistant Commissioner and Secretary of the United States Board of Mediation and Conciliation in 1920.

From the Ocean Grove Times, July 9, 1910.

   After leaving the aforementioned board in the mid-1920s Kluttz took on a very different kind of work, becoming a national representative of the Playground and Recreation Association of America. In 1924 he made a speaking tour on behalf of that association, visiting Illinois, Iowa and Kentucky, "where he completed the work preliminary to the establishment of a year-round municipal playground and recreation system." At some point following his work with the aforementioned group, Kluttz relocated to Miami, Florida, where he was an attorney for an unspecified length of time.

   Kluttz's life after the 1930s has proven to be difficult to research, with little information being found on what he may have been up to during that time. At some point before his death, he moved to Manhattan, New York, and died there on May 11, 1960. He was 78 years old at the time of his death, and this same book gives note that he was interred somewhere in the Washington, D.C. area, with an exact location being unknown at this time.

  Long before Whitehead Kluttz made his name in politics there was Whitehead Hicks, undoubtedly one of the oddest-named men ever to serve as Mayor of New York City. Mr. Hicks served as Mayor from 1766-1776 and during this period had to contend with a great amount of anti-British sentiment that was prevalent throughout the colonies.

   Born on August 24, 1728, in Flushing, Long Island, Whitehead Hicks was the son of Judge Thomas and Margaret Hicks. As a young man, he began studying law and was admitted to the bar around 1750. He went on to serve as clerk for Queen's County, New York from 1752-1757 and in 1766 was appointed as Mayor of New York City.

  Hicks' decade-long tenure as Mayor saw several now notable New York institutions come to fruition, including the King's College (opened in 1767) and the New York Chamber of Commerce (established in 1768). Hicks' term in office also saw a great number of protests from colonists against British officials, whom they ridiculed with "effigy processions" throughout the city. After leaving the mayor's office in 1776 Hicks became a Judge of the New York State Supreme Court and served on the bench until his death on October 4, 1780, in Flushing.

Newcomb Spoor (1852-1935)

From the 1917 Wisconsin Blue Book.

   A multi-term member of the Wisconsin State House of Representatives, Newcomb Spoor (and his rather odd name) left a memorable mark on Wisconsin law when in 1913 he introduced a bill in the legislature that prohibited frogs and toads from being hunted out of season. An ardent conservationist and outdoorsman, Spoor was a New Yorker by birth, being born in the city of Oswego on March 27, 1852, one of five children born to Cornelius VanWormer (1823-1891) and Charity Delia Huntsinger Spoor (1830-1892). The Spoor family moved from New York to Wisconsin shortly after Newcomb's birth and eventually settled in Waushara County. 
   Spoor's education took place in the Berlin, Wisconsin school system and he graduated from the Berlin High School in 1874. He married on December 20, 1878, to Jennie Sherman (born 1859), and the couple are recorded as being childless. Despite a lack of biographical material on Mr. Spoor, it appears that he spent a good majority of his life engaged as a machinist and farmer in the Green Lake County area, as well as spending time in the wilderness of Silver Lake, where he owned a cottage. 
  The Wisconsin Blue Book notes that Spoor held a number of local town offices before his service in the state assembly, but fails to elaborate on what they may have been. He was elected to his first term in the legislature in November 1910, defeating Democratic nominee Charles Boettage by a vote of 1,593 to 1,397. During this term, Spoor held a seat on the house committees on Agriculture exhibitions, and Banks and Elections. In 1912 he won a second term in the house, again defeating Charles Boettage by a slim margin, 1,425 votes to 1,393. 

Newcomb "Newt" Spoor, pictured in the 1913 Wisconsin Blue Book.

   It was during the 1912-1914 session of the legislature that Newcomb Spoor left his imprint on Wisconsin history. A man with a keen knowledge of environmental affairs and conservation, Spoor had for nearly three decades before his legislative service pursued the study of the frog, learning of its spawning habits, the creature's diet, and "the frog catching industry of the region, with its headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin". During his years of study on the frog, Spoor took careful note that wherever the frog lived in abundance, crops grew well, as the insects that usually hampered crop growth were the frog's primary food source. Spoor also found that wherever the frog population had been destroyed by hunting, "grasshoppers and bugs had ruined everything."

   After his decades of research, Spoor was in the midst of his second term in the assembly when he first drew up his bill for the protection of frogs and toads. As Spoor himself related in an interview in the 1921 edition of the American Magazine: 

"I drew up my frog bill for the legislature in 1913. For five weeks it lay at my desk before I dared introduce it; I knew I'd be laughed at. The night of the hearing the galleries of the assembly chamber were chock-full--with people who had come to laugh. I decided to give them what they wanted. A bunch of my friends in the assembly were supplied with wooden rattlers, and after I had made my speech they started them going. The whole place sounded like it was full of frogs and it brought down the house. There was only one vote against me."

  Although his bill was denounced by some people as a piece of "freak legislation", Spoor and his green friend got the last laugh. The bill passed the legislature and in the months after its passage, Spoor's legislation received substantial press in the literature of the time, including the below caricature in the Milwaukee Journal. In the 1921 write-up on Spoor in Volume 92 of the American Magazine, it was noted that many farmers "have renewed cause to thank the 'father of the frog law" due to his foresight in keeping the frog population at a level where it could be of use in the elimination of insects.

This caricature of Newcomb Spoor appeared in the March 5, 1913 edition of the Milwaukee Journal.

   With his becoming the "father of the frog law", Newcomb Spoor continued to represent the county of Green Lake in the Wisconsin Assembly, being reelected in 1914 and 1916, in the latter year defeating local Judge Herman Megow by a vote of 1,685 to 413. After his fourth term in 1919, Spoor chose not to be a candidate for reelection. Three years following his leaving the legislature, Spoor chose to reenter politics, mounting what would be his last campaign for public office. In November 1922 he won re-election to the Assembly for his fifth term, this time representing the county of Waushara. During the 1923-25 term, Spoor held the position of chairman of the committee on Fish and Game and also served on the committee on Rules. During his stewardship of the Fish and Game committee, the Milwaukee Journal noted that Spoor was "influential in obtaining state appropriations for fish hatchery programs and enforcement of laws to protect fish and game."

From Volume 92 of the American Magazine, 1921.

    After his final term in the legislature, Newcomb Spoor retired to private life in his native town of Berlin. During his twilight years, he spent a good majority of his time at his cottage in Silver Lake, Wisconsin, pursuing life in the great outdoors. Remarked by the American Magazine as an "ardent and philosophical fisherman", the knowledgeable Spoor is recorded as having acted as a tour guide and counselor to many visiting city dwellers who vacationed in the wilderness area of Silver Lake, even helping to rescue endangered swimmers and boaters. In 1927 Spoor received the honor of having eight acres of wilderness near his home in Silver Lake named in his honor. Dubbed "Newcomb Spoor Park", this protected area was a fitting tribute to a man who had devoted so much of his private and public life to conservation and environmental causes.

  Newcomb Spoor died at age 83 in September 1935. A burial location for both Spoor and his wife is unknown at the time of this writing, but seeing that both his mother and father are interred at the Oakwood Cemetery in Berlin, it may not be a foregone conclusion that Spoor and his wife may be buried there.

From the July 10, 1927 edition of the Milwaukee Journal.

Corbus Plummer Gardner (1868-1925)

From "The Breaking of the Deadlock" published in 1904.

   We continue our stay in Illinois to highlight the life of another oddly named Prairie State political figure, Mr. Corbus Plummer Gardner of the city of Mendota. Described in Volume II of the 1916 Courts and Lawyers of Illinois as "a vigorous and ambitious lawyer" and "one of the best-known men in Northern central Illinois", Mr. Gardner represented LaSalle County in the Illinois State Senate for three terms beginning with his election in 1898.

   Corbus P. "Busty" Gardner was born in Mendota, Illinois on September 2, 1868, the youngest of nine children born to George Washington and Margaret Gardner, both natives of Pennsylvania. Corbus worked on the family farm during his youth and attended the Blackstone High School in Mendota. In the late 1880s, he enrolled at the University of Michigan's Law School and graduated in the class of 1890. Following his graduation, Gardner read law in the office of Mayo and Wilder for a short period and in 1891 opened his own law practice in Mendota.

   Although he was only in his mid-twenties at the time of its opening, Gardner's law practice grew exponentially, branching out to include other areas in LaSalle, Bureau, and Lee County. The Courts and Lawyers of Illinois give note that Gardner became affiliated with the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad in 1897 and served as that railroad's attorney for a number of years. He would later take a position as an attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad in 1904, and following that year was primarily based in Chicago. Gardner married on December 11, 1901, to Georgia Smith (1873-1963) and later became the father of two children, Margaret Wilda (1904-unknown) and Robert Bruce (1908-1925).

From the St. Louis Republic, February 6, 1903.

   Noted as being a "staunch Democrat" throughout his life, Corbus P. Gardner had never served in elective office before his election to the Illinois Senate. In November 1898 Gardner won election to that body for the first of three terms. He won reelection in November 1902, defeating Republican candidate P.J. Lucey by a vote of 7,919 to 7,347 and during his second term (1903-1907) Gardner served as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Gardner etched his name into the history books in 1905 when he introduced a bill in the senate that proposed $150,000 to provide for the construction of an Illinois Supreme Court Building. Gardner's bill was passed by both houses of the legislature and was approved by Governor Charles S. Deenan on May 18th of that year.

   Gardner's third term in the Senate commenced in 1907 and during this session chaired the committee on Revenue and also held a seat on the following committees: Appropriations, Chicago Charter, Education, Judicial Department and Practice, License and Miscellany, Parks and Boulevards, Primary Elections, Sanitary District Affairs, State Charitable Institutions, and Waterways. As one of the most influential Democratic senators serving in the legislature, Corbus Gardner was noted for his "fair dealing and honesty", but in his last year in the senate, his sterling reputation took a significant hit when allegations of graft were leveled against him.

From the Indianapolis Daily Sun, June 25, 1910.

    As the Indianapolis Daily Sun related in its June 1910 edition, Senator Gardner was accused of "offering a $10,000 jackpot contribution" for securing the passage of a bill through the legislature. The bill in question (referred to as "a bill to permit the damming of rivers for power purposes") had been killed during the last session of the legislature, and Gardner's ethics were called into question when he appeared before a grand jury in Springfield to explain his involvement. This jury also heard testimony from H.S. Green, the manager of a power company in Morrison, Illinois who had mentioned that a "demand" concerning the bill  "was bluntly made of him by the Senator". 

   Gardner vehemently denied the charges against him, and despite being in the hot seat, had little to worry about politically. An article in the Rock Island Argus in February 1910 noted that several incumbent senators "had no desire to be returned" to office in November and that Corbus Gardner was among them. The Argus also related that it was Gardner's wish to "engage permanently in the practice of law in Chicago" after the conclusion of his third term. From what newspaper articles of the period have indicated, Gardner appears to have weathered the scandal, although the same cannot be said for state representatives Lee O'Neil Browne, Robert Wilson, Frank Traut, and Louis Hersheimer, who were indicted by the grand jury in June 1910 on a conspiracy to bribe. 

From the Rock Island Argus, June 25, 1910.

   Despite his leaving the senate under a black cloud, Corbus P. Gardner spent the remainder of his life actively following politics, and in 1912 became affiliated with U.S. Senator Shelby Moore Cullom's campaign for reelection. Cullom established his political headquarters at the Hotel LaSalle and Ex-Senator Gardner was named as its head. In the end, however, Senator Cullom did not run for a fifth term and left office in March 1913 after serving 30 years in the U.S. Senate.

   Gardner continued to practice law in Chicago and Mendota for the remainder of his life and is also noted as having been a member of the LaSalle, Illinois, and American Bar Associations, the Bethany Commandery No. 28 of the Knights Templar Masons and the Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He died at his home in Mendota on May 3, 1925, at age 57, and was later interred at the Restland Cemetery in that town. Gardner's son Robert Bruce died one week later, aged just 17, and was interred alongside his father. Georgia Smith Gardner was also buried here following her death in 1963 at age 90.

Corbus Plummer Gardner,  from "Ottawa in Nineteen Hundred".

Epler Cadwell Mills (1893-1984)

 From the 1931-32 Illinois Blue Book.

   The Illinois General Assembly has had its fair share of oddly named individuals serve amongst its ranks over the past two centuries, and following on the heels of the September 11th profile on DeGoy Bowman Ellis (a state representative from Kane County) another interestingly named Illinois legislator receives a profile--Epler Cadwell Mills of Cass County. A two-term member of the state senate, Mills had earlier distinguished himself during the First World War and was first elected to the Illinois senate at age 27.

  Born in Virginia, Illinois on March 16, 1893, Epler C. Mills was the son of local attorney Richard Watson Mills and his second wife Nellie Epler and was bestowed the odd first name "Epler" as it was his mother's maiden name. He attended schools in the Virginia, Illinois area and also studied at the Montclair Academy in Montclair, New Jersey. He continued his education at the University of Illinois Law School and later graduated from there with his Bachelor of Laws degree.

  Following his graduation Mills began the study of law and continued his studies until the beginning of American involvement in WWI. In May 1917 he signed on for military service and in the following month married Helen Odiorne (1895-1984) and later had two daughters, Jane and Elizabeth (1922-2012). Mills began his military training at the Fort Sheridan Training Camp in Lake County, Illinois and after being commissioned was assigned to the Co. H., 19th U.S. Infantry. He served with this outfit for the duration of the war and eventually rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant, being stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He resigned from the Army in January 1919 and after returning home returned to studying law.

   In 1920 the then 27-year-old Mills was nominated for a seat in the Illinois State Senate and in November of that year defeated Democratic incumbent Walter Manny by a vote of 22, 432 to 15, 718. Taking his seat in January of the new year, the freshman senator was named to seats on the committees on Agriculture and Live Stock, Appropriations, Civil Service, and Dairying during his first term.

  

A youthful-looking Epler C. Mills, from the 1921-22 Illinois State Blue Book.

   Epler C. Mills represented Cass County in the Senate for a four-year term (1921-1925) but wasn't a candidate for reelection in 1925. He was elected to a second term in the Senate in November 1928 and served another four years in office. During this session of the Senate Mills served on 22 different committees, which are listed as follows: Agriculture, Livestock and Dairying; Apportionment; Appropriations; Canals and Waterways; Civil Service; Community Welfare, Corporations and Industrial Affairs, Criminal Procedure, Efficiency and Economy, Elections, Fees and Salaries, Forestry, Fish and Game, Harbors, Insurance, Judiciary, License and Miscellany,  Military Affairs, Municipalities, Parks, Boulevards and Playgrounds, Public Utilities, Railroads, and Roads and Highway Transportation.

  After leaving the senate in January 1933, Mills returned to his hometown of Virginia to practice law with his brother Myron. In 1934 Mills mounted a candidacy for the Republican nomination for U.S. Representative from Illinois, and during the April primary placed a distant fifth behind winning nominee C. Wayland Brooks, who had garnered 479, 479 votes. Following his primary loss, Epler Mills continued practicing law for forty more years and was also affiliated with numerous fraternal clubs in Illinois, being a member of the Masonic Order, the Modern Woodmen, the Hamilton Club of Chicago, and the American Legion. 

  Epler C. Mills died in Illinois on June 5, 1984, at age 91, and was shortly thereafter interred at the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. Helen Odiorne Mills survived her husband by only a few weeks, dying on July 3rd of 1984 at age 89, and was buried alongside her husband at the Oak Ridge Cemetery. One of the most prominent cemeteries in Illinois, Oak Ridge is also the burial location of former Illinois senator Shelby M. Cullom, Illinois Governor Ninian Edwards, American labor leader John Llewellyn Lewis, President Abraham Lincoln, and oddly named Springfield mayor Rheuna Drake Lawrence, profiled here back in March of 2012.

Epler C. Mills, from the 1922-1923 Illinois Blue Book.